Commissioner of corrections named to new position of deputy secretary of operations

November 30, 2011|By DAN DEARTH | dan.dearth@herald-mail.com

J. Michael Stouffer has been named to the new position of deputy secretary of operations as part of a reorganization of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

In that position, Stouffer will oversee operations of the three newly established regions — North, Central and South regions — across the state.

Stouffer was named to the post by Gary D. Maynard, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Prisons spokesman Rick Binetti said that in addition to overseeing operations in the three regions, Stouffer will head security and parole and probation operations for the prison system.

He also will be in charge of the department's programs and services, among other duties. Some of those services include victims services, religious services, medical treatment services and volunteer coordination, according to prisons spokeswoman Danielle Lueking.

Stouffer, who until this appointment had been commissioner of corrections, went to work for the department as a correctional officer in 1980 and advanced through the ranks, Binetti said.

Stouffer previously served as warden of the Maryland Correctional Training Center south of Hagerstown, assistant commissioner for the Western and Baltimore regions and acting deputy commissioner for the Division of Corrections on two different occasions.

Washington County, home to three state prisons south of Hagerstown, is in the North Region, along with Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties.

Maynard has named Jon P. Galley as director of the North Region. Galley, who had been assistant commissioner of the Division of Correction, has served as warden at MCTC and Roxbury Correctional Institution south of Hagerstown and at Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland.

Galley ran unsuccessfully for Washington County sheriff in the 2006 primary election.

Maynard appointed Wendell M. France, who had been commissioner of the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, as director of the Central Region; and Patricia A. Vale, director of the Division of Parole and Probation, as head of the South Region.

The regional directors will oversee corrections, and parole and probation operations in their sectors, Maynard said.

As part of their duties, regional directors will visit wardens, case workers and local law-enforcement officials. The regional directors will report to Stouffer, who, in turn, will report to Maynard.